Are you profiting on the 3.5 billion Google searches made daily around the globe?
Small business owners don’t need to spend a fortune on plugins to create better content. The secret is knowing what tools to invest your time in and how to make the most of them.
Of course, you can also engage with an SEO copywriter to help with your web copy. But if your Christmas budget is tight and you want to propel your content into 2020, there are tools to take the pressure off.
Google Analytics, Grammarly, Hemingway App and Canva are apps most business owners are already familiar with. How are you taking advantage of them?
Here are 9 tools and plugins for smarter SEO content and web copy.
- Google Site Kit
- Yoast SEO Plugin
- Grammarly
- Ahrefs Content + Site Explorer
- Campaign URL Builder
- CoSchedule Headline Analyser
- Unsplash
- Copyscape
- Google Trends
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes 54 seconds.
1. Google Site Kit
Google recently launched its WordPress plugin to give site owners valuable insights in one place.
The plugin connects Google services – AdSense, Analytics, PageSpeed Insights and Search Console into a central dashboard for information about how people find and use your website.
Once installed and connected with your Google account, Site Kit fetches your site’s performance data in the backend. It’s perfect for business owners, web developers, agencies and SEO copywriters who want to improve their website performance and find content opportunities.
You can:
- Measure site traffic
- Analyse how your audience is engaging with individual pages/posts
- Manage tags without having to edit code
- Identify speed improvements needed to serve content to your target audience more effectively
- Avoid switching between Search Console + Analytics
Key Features:
- Free
- All data is visible centrally within WordPress
- Quick + easy setup
- No source code editing required
- Easily create + optimise A/B tests
- Speeds up website by using one plugin to track multiple services
- Minimal, user-friendly dashboard layout
- Helps you stay ahead of the curve + keep up-to-date with Google’s best practices
2. Yoast SEO Plugin
Focus on content optimisation and streamline your web copy with a powerful plugin. Yoast SEO is the top WordPress tool to perfect content.
Guided tips through the analysis box teach you how to structure and write your content so it’s SEO and user-friendly. It reminds you to focus on your keywords (make sure to prioritise keyword research first though), add image alt text and keeps sentences, passive voice and subheadings under control.
You can download the plugin for free. However, Yoast Premium offers more options, better control and 24/7 support. Features like redirects, internal linking and adding more than one focus keyphrase are only available for premium ($89US yearly).
Key Features:
- SEO analysis + readability for smarter content
- Analyses writing to grade scores with suggestions on how + where to make improvements
- Shows prominent words to highlight what your content focuses on (helps to streamline copy + ensure it’s on point)
- Adds breadcrumbs to create a clickable trail (good for internal links + to help Google + your audience understand your site better)
- Free SEO training + DIY resources
- 24/4 support
Looking to fast-track your website to #1 on Google? Yoast SEO simplifies your SEO and content. But to get to the top and stay there, time, skill and knowledge is still priority.
3. Grammarly
Whilst Yoast SEO perfects your content, Grammarly perfects your writing.
No one likes reading an article filled with errors, repeated words and misspellings. It confuses readers and hurts your credibility. Yet we’re all guilty of missing mistakes. Even the best copywriters have editors to check (and double-check) their content before publishing.
Add the Grammarly tool to your browser to highlight spelling and grammar errors in your text. Personally, I think the free version has enough features to benefit from. But for extras like readability, genre-specific style checks and a plagiarism checker use premium.
Key Features:
- Integrate with socials (Facebook, Twitter + LinkedIn), Gmail, MS Office, Firefox + Google Chrome
- Sends performance stats via email
- Set writing goals based on audience, content intent, domain + style
- Reading time estimates which can be useful for long-form articles
- Easy to use + create a free account
4. Ahrefs Content + Site Explorer
Ahrefs is a paid subscription tool that tracks what your competitors are doing, whilst monitoring your own site’s progress.
Although not as comprehensive for data as SEMrush, Ahrefs’ content and site explorer make the $99US per month worth it. It’s an actionable toolset for backlinks and SEO analysis. The extra features are handy for finding relevant content, keywords and traffic estimations.
Key Features:
- Content explorer tool for collecting the most shared content relevant to your industry to find content gaps + analyse high-performing articles
- Site explorer tool to analyse your website’s backlinks + compare data against competitors
- Keywords explorer tool to find + target relevant keywords + view organic traffic
- Find low-competition keywords with high traffic to tailor content. Learn how to use Ahrefs
5. Campaign URL Builder
This is an easy-to-use tool which tracks an URL to add its data to Google Analytics.
I use it for Google My Business posts. By adding the URL into the parametres, Google Analytics is able to track and report on its information. Such data is useful to improve online marketing strategies and monitor campaigns.
Key Features:
- Free
- See how many people click through to your website + what they do once they’re there
- Categorise data into organic traffic stats in GA
6. CoSchedule Headline Analyser
Great content starts with the right headline.
But there’s an art to creating ones that are clickable and enticing. After all, what’s the point of good content if readers aren’t hooked by the title?
CoSchedule have a tool that teaches you to write better headlines. Headline Analyser offers visual data to show where your headline hits and misses and why. It scores each heading, reviews structure and grammar, and looks at word balance.
Titles are broken down according to power words (words that spark emotion + persuade action), uncommon words, common words and emotional words. A balance of all these factors make an effective headline. Learn how to get the most from the tool.
Key Features:
- Free
- Keeps a rolling headline history to track improvements
- Builds into your CoSchedule marketing calendar
- Find the best length for your headings
- Scores titles (anything over 70 is fantastic)
7. Unsplash
Unplash is a refreshing alternative to those cringe-worthy stock photos.
Because all good content includes imagery, it makes sense to source photos that reflect your brand well. But for articles or projects that need generic images, Unsplash offers beautiful collections for inspiration.
Key Features:
- Free to use for personal, editorial or commercial purposes (recommend to credit the photographer source where possible)
- Powered by creatives so only uses high-quality, high-resolution images
- Consistent quality
- 300,000+ photos
- 50,000+ creative contributors
- User-friendly search tool
- Feature collections to follow, save + use
Tip: Use The Stocks to combine Unsplash photos with Shutterstock image sites to get more options.
8. Copyscape
If you use the free version of Grammarly, Copyscape is an important addition to check content for plagiarism.
Copying someone else’s work is a big offence to Google and your readers. Online, it leads to website penalities, low SERP ratings and tainted trust and loyalty with customers. Copyscape helps your content to be original by using references or other websites as inspiration only.
The site uses a credit-based system. Create a free account, top-up credits and use its features. Tip: I use the free version of Grammarly combined with Copyscape. All my content is run through Copyscape and $20 can last for 4+ months.
Key Features:
- Searches are 3c per 200 words
- Batch search which checks 10,000 pages at once (ideal for full web copy searches)
- Tracks plagiarism cases under your account
- Check for duplicate content within your site + build a private index of copy to review before publishing
- Compare article or web pages
- Access to free site banners ‘website protected by Copyscape’
9. Google Trends
Google data is valuable. Use it to find content gaps, write content that creates connections and tell stories.
Google Trends is a free tool that explores content trends to write better content for readers. It’s designed to listen to what your audience wants by using feedback and algorithms to show a snapshot into topics the world is searching for. Then you can write/publish relevant content to tap into these popular search terms. Try Google Trends and set your location in the top right corner.
Key Features:
- Free
- Use as a keyword research tool to show the relative popularity of a search term
- Find seasonal trends to create + promote content at the right time
- Capitalise on trending search topics
- Find new niches
- Identifies cyclical patterns to use as a content calendar
